Existence of a License Depends on Terms of a Contract
The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that, under the terms of a contract, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production and its affiliates did not acquire a perpetual worldwide license to use patents to convert conventional films into 3D.
In a paper published at IPWatchdog, Paige H. Forster explains that the case is located at the intersection of bankruptcy and IP law.
“The story of In re DDMG Estate begins with the 2009 Disney film “G-Force,” which depicted the adventures of a band of highly-trained crime-fighting guinea pigs,” the IPWatchdog story says. “Of course, the only thing better than a rodent action-adventure flick is a 3D rodent action-adventure flick—which is why Disney and a company called In Three entered into the contract at the heart of this appeal. Under the contract, In Three was to deliver a ‘left eye and right eye digital 3D version of 17 minutes of the [G-Force] Picture’ to Disney.”
